Overview
The National Basketball Association consists of 30 teams that are aligned in six divisions of five clubs each that comprise two conferences: the Eastern and Western Conferences. NBA teams play an 82-game regular season schedule followed by a playoff format involving the eight teams with the best record in each conference, culminating with the championship finals in June. The Eastern Conference is made up of the Atlantic, Central and Southeast Divisions while the Western Conference is composed of the Northwest, Southwest and Pacific.
Atlantic Division
The NBA's Atlantic Division is made up of the Boston Celtics, New York Knickerbockers, Philadelphia 76ers, Toronto Raptors and New Jersey Nets. The Celtics are by far the most successful team in NBA history, having won a total of 17 titles since 1947. The Knicks and 76ers have also won NBA championships, having done so two and three times respectively. The Nets joined the NBA from the rival American Basketball Association in 1977; they were called the New York Nets then and had won a pair of ABA titles. The Raptors were granted a franchise in 1996 and are the only NBA team not based in the United States.
Central Division
The Central Division contains the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers. Of these clubs the Bulls have won the most championships, having taken the title six times between 1991 and 1998 when led by guard Michael Jordan. Detroit has three championships to its credit and joined the NBA in 1949 as the Fort Wayne Pistons, based in Indiana. The Bucks were an expansion franchise in 1969 and had great success early on after drafting center Lew Alcindor, who led them to their only title in 1971 and then later changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Both Cleveland and Indiana have never won an NBA title but both have been to the finals. Indiana did manage to win three ABA championships between 1969 and 1977, the year they entered the NBA.
Southeast Division
The Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, Miami Heat, Charlotte Bobcats and Washington Wizards make up the Southeast Division of the NBA. The Magic joined the league in 1990 while Charlotte was added in 2005. Neither franchise has won a title. Miami was another expansion team that has been a part of the NBA since 1989, winning its only crown in 2006. Atlanta was relocated from St. Louis in 1969. While in the Midwest the team had won the NBA title in 1958 with standout Bob Pettit as its top player. Washington has never won a championship series as the Wizards but when the team was nicknamed the Bullets it won it all in 1978. Prior to that the team was based in Baltimore.
Northwest Division
The five clubs in the Northwest Division have combined to win just one NBA championship. That came from the Portland Trailblazers in 1977 when the team, spurred on by center Bill Walton, defeated the 76ers in six games. The Utah Jazz has had great regular season success and has been to the final series twice but has never won. The team got its Jazz nickname when based in New Orleans from 1975 through 1979. The Oklahoma City Thunder, previously known as the Seattle Supersonics, moved to Oklahoma in 2009. The Minnesota Timberwolves have been a member of the league since 1990 but lack a title and the Denver Nuggets were another ABA franchise that the NBA absorbed in 1977.
Southwest Division
The San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets are the three Texas teams in the NBA and are all part of the Southwest Division along with the New Orleans Hornets and Memphis Grizzlies. The two non-Texas clubs were both originally in other cities, with the Hornets hailing from Charlotte and the Grizzlies from Vancouver, British Columbia. The Spurs were initially an ABA team and the club has been to four NBA Finals, winning each time. In 1972 the San Diego Rockets pulled up stakes and moved to Houston where the team took the crown twice. Dallas was awarded a franchise in 1981 but has failed to win a championship.
Pacific Division
Of the five teams in the Pacific Division, other than the Los Angeles Lakers, only the Golden State Warriors can boast of having an NBA title. This lone championship came in 1975 when forward Rick Barry starred for the club. The Lakers are the second most decorated club in the NBA, with 14 championships. Five of those came when the team was in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Phoenix Suns have been in the NBA since the start of the 1969 season but have been to the championship final just twice, losing both times. The Los Angeles Clippers moved to California in 1979 from Buffalo, New York and became the San Diego Clippers before the move up the coast to Los Angeles in 1985. The most traveled NBA team is the Kings, which have been located in Rochester, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Omaha, and finally Sacramento where the club has been since 1986.
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